To obtain accounting certification, you must complete the prevailing education requirement. As you might imagine, requirements have changed over the years. You must check with the state in which you are or plan to work to learn what education level they require. The most common current requirement is that you have an earned (not honorary) Bachelor's degree in Accounting from an accredited university, either on campus or online, including the successful completion of 150 credit hours of qualified study.

New graduates (some states allow second semester seniors to take the test) and those who have been working since graduation are eligible to sit for CPA certification. Always check with your state to learn about their specific requirements before you try to register for the examination. If you did not major in accounting, you might have to take one or more undergraduate courses to satisfy the education requirement to be eligible to sit for the exam.

If you have been working for some years and your graduation ceremony is becoming a distant memory, you might want to consider taking CPA courses, which are designed to prepare you directly for the exam process of becoming a Certified Public Accountant. These programs are based on the most recent question trends of the uniform exam and the probabilities of both recurring and new questions on the upcoming standardized test.

Ever wonder how you could make your life better and more fun? So have tens of millions of fans who have turned to LifeTips for answers over the past decade. We keep the tips, advice, books, podcasts and writing services flowing, so you can keep your life and business growing in the right direction. Upward!